Archives for May 2009

My husband and I were doing some marathon furniture shopping one day and decided to grab lunch.  We were STARVING so we just scanned the area for the first place that looked like it actually served food.  There was a super small, but super cute, café in the strip mall called “The Bean Bag.”  We went in. 

It was one of those places that has three round tables and a chalk board menu. There were soups and sandwiches and various coffee drinks.  My husband ordered a BLT and then asked for my order.  There was turkey, roast beef, ham, and then I saw the tuna sandwich.  The board said “Tuna Salad Sandwich made with sunny yellow raisins, pears, and pecans.”   

“Oh, I’ll have the tuna!” I said. 

“What?” my husband whispered, “Really??” 

“Yeah, I’ll try it.” 

Needless to say, my husband finished up his BLT and I was sitting there with one bite out of my tuna sandwich.  It was…not good.  Let’s just say it had an interesting combination of flavors. “Bean Bag Tuna??” my husband said, “What were you thinking?”

I do this A LOT.  I try things and then end up hating them.  I worked in marketing and promotions for so many years you would THINK I would learn my lesson.  But I am so lured in by the seduction of product marketing.  I walk around the grocery store, see something new, and just HAVE to try it.  Or I go out to a restaurant and get something new off the menu while my husband just rolls his eyes at me.  My biggest mistake is straying away from the ORIGINAL version. Here is a brief list of some foods that turned out to be “Bean Bag Tuna“:

• IHOP Tropical Pineapple Pancakes (The waiter even told me not to order them. I still did.)
• Mango Orange Julius (Again, stick to the original.)
• Candy Corn Hershey Kisses (I don’t even like REGULAR candy corn that much.) 
• Vanilla Creme Frosted Mini-Wheats (I have an attraction to all thing “vanilla.”)
• Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper (See above.)

And I’ve even done it to my innocent children:

• Fruity Cheerios?  Bean Bag Tuna.
• Organic Banana Cookies?  Bean Bag Tuna.
• Curious George Fruit Snacks?  Bean Bag Tuna.

I’ve done it so much that sometimes I don’t even want to admit it.  I once finished an entire container of Tiramisu Coffee-Mate because I did not want my husband to see me throw it in the trash.  (And FYI you Coffee-Mate makers, it does NOT taste like “a combination of delicate ladyfinger cookies, layered in rich mascarpone cream and sweet cocoa.”)

Let’s get this party started! (Thank you Mr. Mailman.)

 

For my husband’s very first Father’s Day, I bought him this book as a gift from Daniel.  I have images in my head of them working together on soapbox derby cars, paper airplanes, and rope knots.  Mark would spend an afternoon teaching Daniel table football and coin tricks.  The two of them would bond over all these cool father and son activities.  And Mark would teach Daniel how to do all the little things that boys like (and should learn) to do.

What I did not realize at the time was that I would be spending A LOT of days at home with a growing boy.  By myself. No Dad.  And this boy is ACTIVE.  He wants to run and jump and build stuff.  I’ve already mastered the blocks and I know how to play trains but today, Daniel wanted to build a FORT.  Huh?

I remember my brother building blanket forts in his room when he was little.  But I never helped him make any of them.  But how hard can it be, right?  You need a blanket and then you tie it to something and voila! A fort! (Okay, where’s that book?)

Here is my first attempt:

And my second:

 Okay, how about this Bean?:

I know.  I know.  I need sheets and not one big brown blanket.  And chairs, I think.  Where is my husband??

Thank goodness I have a “girly girl”  daughter:

Conversation with a toddler, age 2 ½:

Bean:  (Looking in the fridge) “Mama!  Mama!  NEW milk!”

Me:  “Yes, Daniel, there’s new milk in the fridge.” 

Bean:  “Mama!  NEW YELLOW milk!”

Me:  “Yes, it’s a new yellow milk CONTAINER.” (Some organic version from the local gas station mini mart.)  “But it tastes the same Bean.”

Bean:  “Mama!  Daniel drink NEW YELLOW MILK for lunch!”

Me:  “Yes, Daniel, but we have to clean up first.  Put away all these toys.  And then we have to change your diaper.”

Bean:  “NO! NO! NO Mama! Daniel no change diaper!”

Me:  “Yes Bean…”

Bean: “NO! NO! NO Mama!  Daniel no change diaper!”

Me: “Come on, Bean. Let’s go change your diaper….”

Bean:  “NO! NO! NO Mama!  Daniel no change diaper!”

Me:  “Okay. Then, let’s go sit on the potty.”

Bean: “NO! NO! NO Mama!  Daniel no sit on potty!”

Me:  “Well, then let’s go change your diaper…now!”

Bean:  “NO! NO! NO Mama!  Daniel no change diaper!”

Me:  (under my breath) “Oh GEEZ Daniel, what else is new….”

 Bean: “NEW MILK!  Daniel drink NEW YELLOW MILK!!”

 Okay, I set him up.  Good one, son.

So that annual list of the most popular baby names has just been released for 2008.  My son Daniel’s name is always in the top 10.  This year it was number 5.  Annabel is number 801.

I find this mildly amusing because I just came home from Annabel’s weekly Gymboree Level 3 class at the mall.  There are ten kids in her class, a mix of boys and girls, and there is ANOTHER Annabel!   (Actually this little girl spells her name Annabelle, but still).  It does not bother me as much as it surprises me.  I went through 5 levels of Gymboree with Daniel and there was NEVER another Daniel.  I’ve taken Daniel to music class, library craft day, the pool, play groups, etc. and there has never been another Daniel (at least not yet.)

I definitely feel that your child’s name is the first and best gift you can give them.  It’s really stressful to decide on a name because that’s it – they will have it FOREVER.  A child’s name can define their personality and the way others interact with them.

Both of my children received the SECOND name from that piece of paper where you start listing all the name choices.

When we found out we were having a boy, I wrote down Logan.  “Logan” was the name of a character on The Gilmore Girls.  He was the boyfriend of the main character “Rory.”   I love The Gilmore Girls. It was, and still is, one of my favorite TV shows of all time. I have all the DVD episodes and I plan to watch them with Annabel one day.  The character of “Logan” was cute, witty, smart, and I really liked the name.   So that was it.

Until one day I was watching an episode of The Real World on MTV. (Hey, I AM called Pop Mommy for a reason!)  There was a boy named Danny and something just clicked in my brain.  The name Danny sounded so fun.  It was cool and amiable.  I just loved it.  And I thought the name Daniel was even better.  It was a really strong and simple biblical name.  Daniel was perfect.  So we wrote down Daniel on that piece of paper and it only took us one more week to cross off Logan for good.

When we found out we were having a girl, we both had been talking about the name Roxanne.  I know what you are thinking.  It’s definitely…different.  The funny back story is my name was going to be Roxanne.  It was one of the names circled in this old 1970’s pocket baby name book I found in my parent’s nightstand drawer one day.  Apparently my mom did not love it, but my Dad really tried to fight her for it.  Sorry Dad, Pamela it was.  I always remembered that story.  And I thought it would be cool to now name my own daughter Roxanne.  It was strong and unique and I definitely liked a name with “Ann” in it.  Ann is my mother’s name and my middle name.  But then I remember doing the online search for the name Roxanne on this baby name rating website. (I know. Why do we do this stuff?)

A lot of people thought the name Roxanne sounded tacky and one person even said it sounded like a hooker’s name! (The Police’s hit song “Roxanne.” I get it.) That turned me off and then I came across the name Annabel.  We LOVED it.  And it was still a unique name, just…prettier. And we decided to spell it the classic way because then both of my kids’ names would end with “el.”  Ah, synergy.

I wonder if my kids would act differently or be treated differently if they were named Logan and Roxanne.  I’m so glad I’ll never know.

(Oh, and by the way, we never told anyone the names of our babies until they were born.  Something I highly recommend to everyone.)